The last remaining Goths of Crimea among Tatars in 16th century

There was an Hapsburg empire`s ambassador to Istanbul named Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq from 1552 to 1562 AD. He stayed in Istanbul for 10 years but traveled all around Turkey and constantly sent reports to Vienna.

He was also the guy who attested the last remaining Goths in Crimea and noted their language for the last time. He calls them as Tatars at first because they were the horsemen of Crimea but he thinks that they either should be the descendants of Goths or Saxons because they were speaking German language.

It`s funny that he relates their habit of eating horse meat without cooking is some kind of barbarian custom. Actually, what Gothic nomads did was, what we Turks call as "pastirma";http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pastirma

Pastirma, "pressed meat" in Turkish is the best and easiest meal for mobile horsemen. They were slicing the meat, season it with herbs and putting under the saddle to let it dry faster with the horse`s heat generated from it`s skin. It was practical because dried meat doesn't get spoiled and doesn't need cold to be preserved as fresh.

It`s also interesting that he mentions about the chief of Tatars who raised among these Goths. So, we can say that these last remaining Goths of Crimea who didn't migrate to the Europe, mingled with Tatars or Slavs and disappeared from history.

Dutch-Turkish relations were also very interesting. Here is some more about the first official Dutch governor, Cornelis Haga. He served the Dutch Republic as it's envoy to Turkey from 1612 to 1639. 2012 thus will be (and it's official- I just looked it up) marked by commemorations of 400 years of (good) relations.

More about Ogier Ghiselin de Busbecq who served the Holy Roman Empire as it's envoy to Turkey from 1554-1556 and again from 1556- 1564.

How Turkey wants to conquer Europe: click here for more.

Originally Posted by Kemalisté

Oh, come on. As if there are not enough Turks living in those countries to make counter-pressure. Even Merkel's Christian Democratic party has begun to have Turkish deputies elected. As a matter of fact; the Turkish population is rapidly increasing and Germany will soon have to come to a more pro-Turkish point. The same goes for your country, the Netherlands. In France; while there's a significant increase in right-wing movements; socialists are still in power and are preparing to lift their blocks upon Turkey's chapters.

This is really interesting stuff. A shame those Goth survivors didn't try to record their language. They were probably illiterate like a lot other people who lived under the Ottomans. Macedonians for example were 80% illiterate thanks to the Ottomans nonexistent education system... as it probably didn't even exist in such dictionary, if there was one!

This is really interesting stuff. A shame those Goth survivors didn't try to record their language. They were probably illiterate like a lot other people who lived under the Ottomans. Macedonians for example were 80% illiterate thanks to the Ottomans nonexistent education system... as it probably didn't even exist in such dictionary, if there was one!